Morning Brew: H1N1 Shot Available to All, TTC Raises Fare & Ire of Riders, Drug Lab Found in Swank Duplex, $25,000 in Fines for Chandra's Takeout Restaurant, Coming Soon: Commute from Niagara?
Photo: "Colour Me In" by a_mandolin, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
Step right up, get your shot! Starting today, Toronto Public Health will be happy to stick a needle full of H1N1 vaccine into anybody who wants it. Rob Roberts visited a flu clinic and found that with 20 needle stations only 8 were in use, so it's not surprising everybody can go now. But with so few deaths related to H1N1 (198 across Canada at last count), will all that many people bother?
The TTC isn't winning any friends lately, not after the commission passed fare hikes to start January 3rd, even though those hikes were less than anticipated. Cash fares and tokens (if, that is, you can actually get tokens) will go up 25 cents (making a cash fare $3) and the monthly pass will jump from $109 to an astounding $121 (Jerrold's got all the details). Todd Harrison has a way of getting $100 Metropasses, but advises it may already be too late. Given yesterday's comments (here and here), I'm thinking more complaining will, understandably, be the order of the day.
Have police sniffed out a drug lab in a fancy Woburn Ave duplex, near Avenue Rd and Lawrence Ave? Neighbours reported an odd smell last night and drug squad officers have found "suspicious chemicals." Maybe the really swanky duplexes have better ventilation.
Strange story for former Mississauga resident Jordan Wimmer. She's suing her very rich and very ex-boss, London banker Mark Lowe, for sex discrimination. A lot of missing information, "he said, she said," but an overall not pretty picture of Lowe. Maybe the lesson here is if you're successful and you want to stay successful, don't joke around in the office about "lady boys" in Thailand, compare women to dogs or make graphic sexual references. Just a thought.
Chandra's Takeout Restaurant may have thought its troubles with Toronto Public Health were over when it reopened in August after TPH shut them down, but now they've been slapped with $25,000 in fines. I think I've been naive about the cleanliness of Toronto restaurants; right after returning from her mat leave, restaurant critic Amy Pataki urged the use of the Dine Safe website. It's amazing how many violations are found... at places I trust(ed?).
The mere thought of it makes me sort of shudder, but apparently enough Niagara residents are interested in working in Toronto to have GO Transit consider adding the commuter rail service. Weekdays around tall buildings and weekends amongst wineries may have a certain appeal, but certainly the 2 hour (each way) train ride would lessen the appeal, right?
Comments (23)
If Adam Giambrone weren't so ideologically stubborn he would've considered a number of the other options available to him before shunting the results of his mismanagement onto TTC riders.
He's hurting the very people he claims to care about since many of the TTC riders use it because they cannot afford another form of transportation.
Adam Giambrone, why do you hate the poor?
Commuting from Niagara is not that crazy. Look at any large city and you will see people commuting 1.5+hours each way to live in area they enjoy and be employed.
I have seen it in Manhattan (from Conneticut, NJ and PA)...and london from the ex-burbs and by plane (from Malaga, Spain)....
Two hour commute(each way)?!
If i was living in Niagara, i'd make sure I had a job there and not have to commute. That's 4hrs wasted out of your life.
Heck, I wouldn't even commute from Burlington!
Urban planning at it's worst, here in southern ontario.
A two-hour commute is not some I'd want, but if you can sleep, read a book, write emails, etc. then the time isn't totally lost.
I worry that it will encourage developers to build more cheap housing on farmland.
One nice upside is that it will be easier for people living downtown to take a bike on the GO and tour the wine region -- at least before it turns into Brampton.
No, the HST only applies if GST is already charged on the item. All transit cash fares, tokens and metropasses are GST-Free. There will be no further price adjustment.
As for Niagara by GO, as long as it gets people out of their cars I don't mind. Although GO has its work cut out for it to make it work time-wise, the weekend train to Niagara was frequently delayed by ships crossing the Welland canal.
GO Trains leaving Barrie already take about an hour and a half each way. The earliest leaves Barrie at 5:43 and arrives at Union at 7:15.
The GO Train commute is much more civil than the TTC will ever be - no matter how long it takes. Maybe this 'milk run' is just the beginning of a better Niagara-Toronto route. If passengers justify the means then I'm sure schedules can/will be adjusted. Will they be serving Niagara wines on-board? That would definitely make 2 hours more pleasant :)
I think you needed to add "there will be no further price adjustment ... at least until the next round of negotiations between the TTC and the City."
The only way the TTC could have stopped a fare increase this round was to cut services, during its biggest service increase in history. They surveyed around and found more people were against service cuts than fare increases. For those that say fire the unions and that usual dreck, the TTC is actually experiencing a manpower shortage that is affecting its expansion plans. They want to increase bus service even more but simply don't have enough drivers. If you think they are getting paid too much, then why not apply?
I like the service increases that have happened. The two bus routes near my house used to end at 6pm and not run at all on Sundays, now they run til 1:30am and 2:00am respectively, 7 days a week. I'd rather pay a quarter more than have no service.
The real issue is restoring provincial funding to the TTC, which was scrapped by Harris. You can post the costs of passes and tickets from around the world all you want, but I bet those companies don't get 70% of their income from the farebox. Most North American transit systems are lucky to break 20 to 30%.
The bigger question is why did they undertake the service increase in the first place when they should've known it was not sustainable?
I'm guessing Adam Giambrone's political aspirations had something to do with it.
"For those that say fire the unions and that usual dreck, the TTC is actually experiencing a manpower shortage that is affecting its expansion plans. They want to increase bus service even more but simply don't have enough drivers. If you think they are getting paid too much, then why not apply? "
I have heard that the TTC's HR department is a disaster and that it often takes *A YEAR* before they call you in for just the first interview after applying.
Then you have months of training and probation, so it can be two years before you're a full time employee.
People who could be drivers are just giving up waiting.
I would love to hear someone from the TTC verify, but they don't like to say anything other than obvious and poorly written spin.
Because the rail link from Union to Pearson Airport isn't being built by the TTC. Metrolinx is spearheading that project, which I think will be built and operated privately by SNC-Lavalin.
So are you saying there should be no service increases at all? A quarter per ride = unsustainable? Any increase in service is going to result in an increase in cost, but a quarter per ride is not unreasonable in my books. When you look at the sheer amount of increases in the past year a quarter a ride seems like a bargain. Over 80% of routes now run until 1:00am 7 days a week. Before, many routes shut down at 6pm, 10pm or didn't run on weekends. I think that's worth it. Even busy routes like Eglinton have had large service increases and are less crowded at rush hours. Surveys have shown that people are more opposed to cutting those increases then they are opposed to a fare hike.
Fares have not increased since Nov. 2007. Transit fares in any city rise every few years, and every city in the GTA has had at least one increase since 2006. I think there should have been a 10 cent hike in 2008 rather then having a 25 cent hike all at once, to even it out, but that's another issue.
Many other transit systems in the GTA have just as expensive fares. Oakville and Mississauga's fares are $3.00 each, York Region's are $3.25 and Durham's are $2.90.
I will concede the point that the metropass is very expensive compared to other cities. But to make it worth while you need to take an extremely large amount of trips (48 or above). Also with the Student Pass being extended to University students, they will end up paying less in September then they do now. I've said to many people that they really need to take a look at how many trips they take a month, because most people can make do with tokens.
As Mentioned above the Airport Link everybody is clamoring for is going to be a disaster, built by a private company. It will likely cost $15 to $20 each way, thank the Canadian government for that. For everybody who says "Privatize the TTC!" just wait to see how much a ticket on the Airport Link costs. For affordable transit to the airport we will have to wait until about 2020 when the Eglinton LRT will be completed and run from the Airport to Kennedy.
Just how much worse does it have to get, before the province puts its subsidy back? TTC ridership has not increased as fast as the population, because the service is no better, if not worse. Half of those people in cars could have been in transit, if we’d built at a fraction of the pace we did in the middle of the last century. Yes Mr. 905, transit frees up more road-space than building roads does, at the same price.
Taking the subsidy away was Harris’ fault, but consistent with the ‘Conservatives” odious class-baiting. It might just be more odious that a second-term ‘Liberal’ government has not restored it. Building and maintaining roads is a subsidy; building and running transit is a subsidy: the latter is actually an efficient use of money.
"the airport link is going to be a disaster" no it's going to be awesome
Check out Heathrow Express - it's not cheap, but it's much, much cheaper than a cab ride. It should cost at least $20 and it should stop only at the Airport and Union. It provides serious value for money to travelers and shouldn't serve any other community.
We bitch about the cost of the TTC because the service is horrible, the network is pitiful, and it's absurdly slow. Premium products command premium prices - crap products command crap prices.
As to restoring the subsidy - it's a very stupid idea. You're making the TTC hostage to future political whims. The whole point of privatization is to get a firm footing and to take it out of the realm of politics and ideological pet projects for idiotic councillors. A business will provide service that makes sense and cut off routes that exist for political reasons rather than actual ridership needs.
There's another way to pay for transit - give the TTC ownership of air rights around every new subway station it builds and capacity increases. You increase density and give the TTC a stable capital asset it can use for capital expansion and improvements.
God, after Thatcher, Reagan and the Bushes, do we still have to hear this ignorant neo-con garbage? How willfully simpleminded do you need to be? It's not like your people didn't increase national debts while destroying society, is it?
Niagara GO:
People does that long commute, ya know. VIA has trains going from the Niagara to Toronto every morning, as is from London.
airport link: check out the one at JFK in NYC.
so cheap for riders and so smart.
a more accessible city is better for everyone and the environment.
p.s. JOEL M. do you work for the TTC union or Giambrone??? cuz really . . .
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